The Qiantang River Bridge is the first dual-purpose road-and-railway bridge designed and built by a Chinese.[1] He also participated in the construction of China's first modern bridge – Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge. During the construction of Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge, Mao Yisheng served as chairman of the Technical Advisory Committee composed of more than 20 foreign and Chinese bridge experts, and solved 14 difficult problems relating to bridge construction.

He significantly influenced Chinese engineering education by introducing new subject matter and innovative pedagogical approaches. In addition to his engineering expertise, he was a distinguished scholar of the History of science in China.

He advocated popular science education, and wrote "On Bridge", "China's Arch Bridges" and many other popular science articles.